This was the one that almost got away. So as quick as a flash I just about got him. White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis).
Rear garden, Staffordshire, England. June 2017.
Tag: Cepaea hortensis
We Love The Rain
After a fair bit of rain I can expect to find these snails out and about in the daytime, where usually they feed under the safe cover of darkness.
They can be a pest, especially to my bedding plants and the few vegetables I grow, and my Hosta which looks like it has been riddled with bullets. Yet I still find a fascination with these creatures, and how very well evolved they are for surviving on the land, as opposed to their seafaring cousins.
By the Mesozoic Era, some 248 million years ago, some of these gastropods had adapted in such a way they left the marine environment to live in freshwater and terrestrial habitats. And here they are now, munching through my garden after the June rain has fallen.
Rear garden, Staffordshire, England. June 2017.
Well Worn But Ready For Autumn
Photograph of the White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis), taken September 2016, front garden , Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Following The Storm
Photograph of the White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis), taken September 2016, rear garden , Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
White-lipped Snail
Cepaea hortensis
As much as I love my garden, these slimy creatures seem to love it more – they are slowly, but surely chomping their way through it!
The shell of this snail is quite variable, ranging from all over yellow to yellow with dark brown spiral bands. The lip of the shell is almost always white. Shell diameter 16 to 20mm.
They can live for up to 3 years, and are found in gardens, woods and hedgerows. It is actve during the day in wet and mild conditions, found resting or feeding on vegetation. Common and widespread throughout Britain and Ireland.
Photographs taken June 2014, rear garden, Staffordshire.
Nature Journeys 